Update: American express has discontinued the “Secure Message” service and has instead instituted an online “live chat” option.
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Sending a “Secure Message” (SM for short) is an an incredible tool, a time saver and can many times work wonders where if you were to call you would get nowhere.
A SM is a message which you send to your credit card company which you can do after logging into to your online credit card account.
Why Send A SM?
The benefits of using the SM service are many;
1. Match to a better bonus offer. This is by far IMO the best use of sending a SM. Many credit cards have official sign-up bonuses such as the Chase Marriott which officially comes with a 50k bonus or the Chase United Explorer which comes with a 30k bonus, but with sending a SM you can get the Chase Marriott bonus raised to 70k or the Chase United Explorer bonus raised to 55k with a $50 statement credit to boot. There are many other credit cards which also fit into this category such as the Citi AAdvantage card, Chase Priority Club etc;. With American Express, matching better bonus offers via SM is apparently dead (of course it never hurts to ask) unless you received a targeted better offer.
When sending the SM you will request being matched to the better offer “as I heard about from a colleague” etc;.
2. Receive a refund of a credit balance. If for instance you have a credit balance on one of your accounts, you can request the balance be sent to you via check be credited to another account or even transferred to your bank account via ACH transfer.
3. Reconsider an application. This for the most part works well with Chase. If you were denied on an application, you can try sending a SM explaining why you feel they should reconsider your application. Explain why you want the card, it may be for its benefits (for instance with United explorer to get free bags when flying United Airlines and primary car rental insurance, etc;) also write if you are willing to move over part or all of the credit line from another card to get the new card approved.
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